Park National Finds Growth on You Have To Keep Searching
With some new releases, they blend into our routines, creeping into the background as we go about the motions of life. But every so often, we come across a record that stops us in our tracks, the kind that makes us rewind and dissect every lyric, every sound, or every note. Park National’s You Have To Keep Searching is one of those albums. As for Liam Fagan, the Boston-based singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, his sophomore full-length LP is far from his first rodeo when it comes to putting out introspective tracks. Building off the success of his debut album alongside recent EPs, You Have To Keep Searching deepens in tone from the heaviness of Midwest emo colliding with an undercurrent of indie rock and alt-country. Driven by intentional production and seamless progressions, each track is genuinely filled with creative purpose. In its entirety, You Have To Keep Searching proves itself to be mature and fully realized.
You Have To Keep Searching thrives at blending the genres Park National draws inspiration from. It has intricate transitions flowing in and out of each track, making it a cohesive project as a whole. From quieter, acoustic moments of “Lake Mich.”, “In My Blood,” and “One Foot” to the beautiful feature with fellow Chicago native and collaborator Truman Sinclair on “Let ’Em Live,” Fagan continues to express himself on a deeper level. Through powerful instrumentation and ambient distortion rooted in “Old Wounds” and singles like “Your Mom’s House,” Park National delivers an impactful performance. You Have To Keep Searching most definitely casts a wider stylistic net with the haunting echoes of the “Fallback” chorus followed by the piercing vocals in “Edgerly,” demonstrating how Fagan and his bandmates evolve their current sound.
Park National shines a light on the emotional shift from adolescence to adulthood through his lyricism. With the restless journey of finding ground in music, Fagan takes space to grow. Thematically, the lyrical parallels read as intimately journalistic — particularly in how Park National traces the weight of change through lines like ‘I drown in all the questions in my head’ in “Distance” and ‘I’m coughing up the regret from my lungs’ in the closing track “21.” “Withdrawal” is also a strong display of the quality songwriting Fagan is capable of. An honest portrayal comes through in the words, "I step into the ring and clench my fists / I’m fighting with my consciousness / And getting weaker every punch I throw / ’Cause getting high just gets so low." It’s these moments that showcase just how much depth the record holds.
Park National is buried deep within this record in ways only he will ever truly understand. But for the rest of us, we have to keep searching too. Whether it’s sitting with discomfort or leaning into anticipation, we might find what we need—even if it’s nothing at all. As it gazes through and zooms into focus, we may begin to recognize what to let go — possibly a voice of doubt and uncertainty that lingers beneath the surface. You Have to Keep Searching may resonate longer, as Fagan moves toward questions some of us wouldn’t know how to say aloud. By its end, we’re left with the trace of something we must learn to answer for ourselves that wherever we are, our best is enough.
You Have To Keep Searching by Park National is out now via Brain Synthesizer and streaming on all major platforms, including Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, and Bandcamp.